Pharmacy change of ownership applications suspension to be lifted

The suspension by Primary Care Support England (PCSE) of all new market entry, market exit and consolidation applications due to the covid-19 pandemic is targeted to be lifted from 01 June 2020.

The suspension was initially put in place to ensure that NHS England regional teams can focus their efforts to where they are needed most, but PCSE now expect that service will resume on 01 June. However they have advised that they will be working through a significant backlog of applications and may not be able to adhere to the current regulatory timescales, so delays should be expected. A brief statement can be found on the market entry page on their website here: https://pcse.england.nhs.uk/services/market-entry/

Pharmacy share sale transactions should be largely unaffected by the announcement as market entry applications are usually not necessary for these transactions where the company is already included on the pharmaceutical list.

If you require any further advice or information, please contact the fee earner you are dealing with or Lucy Knight at lucy.knight@crippspg.co.uk.